Guns
by spizzerinktum
Summary: Kendo practitioners are known for having defined biceps.


**A/N:** This one's based on a word prompt: _Guns._ Set somewhere along the line after Heiji has realized his feelings and before any of his failed attempts at confessing.  
 **Warning:** Slightly AU.  
 **Disclaimer:** I most definitely do not own Detective Conan. If I did, I would showcase more of Heiji's bod.  
 **Summary:** _Kendo_ practitioners are known for having defined _biceps_ and triceps, a rock-hard core, and an impossibly defined back.

* * *

"..ahou, ya listenin' ta me?"

The girl in question blinks and snaps out of her daze. Despite having heard nothing Heiji just said to her, Kazuha nods anyway. As Heiji's toned arms wave through the air, animatedly motioning his every word, her eyes follow along. In silence, she takes note of the subtle twitching of muscles flexing and relaxing, as well as the veins that'd occasionally pop up on the _bronzed skin_. Discreetly, or so she thinks, her eyes slowly trace up and down the other's muscular arms. A thin layer of perspiration adds a soft shine to his skin, as well as better accentuates the _taut_ outline of his _form_.

Kazuha is usually quite focused during conversations, actually taking great pride in her strong concentration skills, but at the moment she is very distracted by the pair of tanned arms waving in front of her eyes.

She has never paid much attention to Heiji's toned limbs before as she's always generally annoyed with them, constantly trying to trap her in a headlock or pestering her with hits and nudges. That is until now.

As the wide-eyed girl nods vaguely again to something her best friend has said without tearing her gaze away, she subconsciously swallows the lump in her throat.

"... Dontcha think so?"

Heiji asks with his signature grin and looks down at her who is still staring at his arms.

A smirk creeps up on his face and he clears his throat, not bothering to even hide his smugness. He hasn't expected his plan to work so well, but he's glad his efforts haven't gone to waste.

He never has a problem catching Kazuha's attention but maintaining that attention is usually more challenging than he'd like to admit—if only he knew earlier that all he needs to do is to spend more hours in his kendo dojo. He'd have gladly done so sooner rather than wasting all those time coming up with all sorts of elaborate and ridiculous plans (some of them which he deeply regrets carrying out. Like that one time when he unnecessarily _punched_ a guy from next class because he flirted with Kazuha—and also to gain her attention). This comes from years of swinging the shinai and of course he'd always have defined biceps all this time, but those extra practices which involve new techniques that specifically require arm muscles really does pay off.

Casually, or so he thinks, he flexes his arms again like a bodybuilder eager to show off and continues to babble on about things of no particular importance. His smirk widens when Kazuha simply responds with another nod and trailing eyes.

When Heiji cannot contain his amusement and smugness any longer, he snaps a finger in front of Kazuha's face while laughing heartily and the latter jumps from his action. Scowling in annoyance, Kazuha glares at the grinning high school detective and rubs the tip of her nose out of nervousness as she tries to suppress the blush tinting her cheeks. Heiji raises a teasing brow and flexes his biceps again with excess showmanship.

"Like what ya see there?" he asks, taunting and pomposity saturated in his voice. Kazuha's eyes widen in embarrassment and she glares harder, her chin tipping upward and teeth clenching tightly.

"What, yer starin'," Heiji adds, still grinning from ear to ear, "I'm surprised at how distracted ya were by my arms."

"I was not," Kazuha bites out in a dangerous tone, making him cower subconsciously. After so many years of pestering and constantly testing his friend's patience, Heiji has developed an instinct that accurately senses his own demise. However, that does not stop him from damning himself. In Kaito's words: 'Hattori has the true spirit of a masochist,' to which Shinichi adds: 'at least when he is with Kazuha.'

"You were," he argues and grins wider. A shiver mixed of fear and anticipation courses down his back. "Don't lie now, Kazuha, we both know you're a horrible liar. Ya may be a good actor but yer bad at lying."

"Oh shut it, Heiji," she narrows her eyes and exhales slowly, trying to stop her body from reacting to her friend's tongue-in-cheek.

"Aw, yer embarrassed, how _cute._ " Heiji teases having caught Kazuha's red ears but before the latter could explode in angry curses or lunge at him, he pouts and starts to wiggle around showing cuteness.

"No," Kazuha grits her teeth and tries to avert her eyes from him. It isn't that she cannot stand watching a seventeen-year-old act like a five-year-old but rather, she cannot handle watching Heiji act all cute. Somehow, it has a strange effect on her—it makes her smile a little too happily, feel a bit too warm and fluffy inside, and forgive too easily no matter the offense.

"Oh come on," Heiji continues to whine and pout while shamelessly flexing his biceps again, "my _guns_ are nice, ya know they are."

Kazuha rolls her eyes and keeps quiet, feigning ignorance of the pair of arms that she does find extremely distracting.

"Ya think so too, right? I like 'em."

Heiji shifts his gaze from his toned arms to Kazuha, who has become determined to look anywhere but at him.

"Ya listening? Kazuha," he calls and waves his arms in front of his still scowling friend, "Kazuha, hello? Ya hear me? Ya ignorin' me again?"

Silence answers Heiji. However rather than discouraging him from carrying on with his one-sided conversation, it just made things worse.

"Kazuha. Kazuha-ya. Kazuhaaaaa., Kazuha. Kazuha-ya, Kazuha. Kazuuuuhaaaaaaaa. Kazuha, Ka–"

"What do ya want," she finally snaps after getting sick and tired of hearing her own name. Her nostrils flaring and eyes shining with impatience, Kazuha unwillingly concedes defeat to Heiji's childish antics.

"Admit that ya really like my sexy arms and that ya were distracted by them because they are so sexy,"

Heiji smirks proudly as he slaps his arm muscles. Without giving a single thought, Kazuha denies immediately. No matter how true it actually is.

"No."

"Yes! Ya totally were distracted by my arms!"

"No, I was not."

"Yes, ya were! Admit it, Kazuha."

"No."

"I know ya were. Stop denyin'." Heiji urges on incessantly, but Kazuha has fallen back to silence. In the face of such adversity, he simply pouts and resumes his name chanting.

Slowly, a vein begins to surface on Kazuha's forehead and a fire ignites in her chest. She bows his head and tries to concentrate on the grains of the wooden floor rather than the pair of bronzed, toned arms flying in and out of the corner of her vision. Finally, as the last spec of her patience wears away to nothing no thanks to her persistent friend, Kazuha lets out a frustrated growl.

"Enough!" She shouts and effectively quiets Heiji in an instant, "Yes, yer arms are sexy and distractin', okay? Goddammit, yer _entire existence_ is a _giant distraction_!"

"Uh… what?" Confused, he whispers and tries to restrain the hopefulness rising in his heart.

"I said yer entire existence is a distraction ta me, you stupid, deaf kuro-tako!" Kazuha repeats out of frustration, barely aware of the words coming out of her mouth, "Yer always distractin' me with useless things yet I can't help but pay attention ta ya! Yer always in my head and just the thought of y–"

Suddenly, everything she said registers in her head and Kazuha shuts up abruptly. Wide-eyed, she looks warily at Heiji who simply blinks blankly at him with his mouth slight agape. An awkward silence settles between the two as one tries to think of how to recover his words while the other searches for the right words to say.

"I distract ya?" Heiji breaks the silence first in a whisper.

"Yes, ya do," Kazuha mumbles in reply, her mind frantically thinking of ways to salvage the situation. She has long forgone the hope for an impossible love, but she will not so easily give up on the friendship he has worked so hard to preserve. "I can't concentrate with ya being so noisy and flailing all over the place like that!"

"No, I mean the other kind of distraction!" Heiji clarifies in a hurry and he takes a few step forward, quickly closing the distance between him and a nervous Kazuha. Heiji also tenses up before speaking again, stuttering from the tension and anticipation building inside of him. Maybe Kudo is right, after all.

"I-I mean… the kind of distraction that's more 'an just havin' yer attention diverted?"

As she stares half in disbelief into Heiji's hopeful eyes, Kazuha presses her lips against each other until they stretch into a thin line. "Aho! Yer talkin' nonsense now."

"It's my arms, isn't it?" he asks half-seriously and Kazuha's face falls.

Exasperatedly and nervously, she gives up and nods with a quiet hum and she watches in wonder as a bright smile blooms on his face like a daisy in early spring.

Now that he knows for sure that Kazuha finds him attractive (or rather, finds his arms distractive), he can proceed to the second step of building his love confession. He can feel his heart beating rapidly but he can also hear his subconscious desperately yelling at him, reminding him to _delay_ having the monumental moment right then and there: _No! Yer in the school library and ya definitely can't do th_ –'

"Yer so _lucky_ ta have a _sexy_ best friend," Those cocky words fly out of his mouth just like that, having been so well-trained under circumstances like this. He wonders if the mischievous tone in his voice is enough to hide his nervousness.

"Really, now," She retorts in slight exasperation, her expression deadpan and eyes darkening, "Yer so lucky ta have an extremely patient best friend!"

"Yer actions totally contradict yer words, Kazuha. One minute ago ya just practically lashed out and resorted to verbal attack! So much for havin' extreme patience."

...

Guess the confession would have to wait. Who professes their love in the library anyway?

* * *

 **P.S.** I'm a sucker for men with nice arms.

Kuro-tako = Black Octopus. Kazuha called Heiji kurotako in Magic File 4: The Osakan Okonomiyaki Odyssey.


End file.
